Horse thief

Chickory is a thief. She stole the dog toy, Tess's favorite ball. Velvet wanted it too, but miss Chickory claimed it.

Note Sparkle's nose in the background; she wasn't having anything to do with it, in true stand-offish princess style.

Chickory rolled the ball around Velvet's legs, and Velvet just stayed there, trying to get the ball from Chickory.

The day was warm but cloudy, and after Ted and I finished some yard cleanup- including burning the Christmas tree- I clambered aboard Beamer bareback (clambered is right, there is nothing graceful about me getting on bareback!), and we took a tour of the hayfield. Come ride along!

There aren't many obstacles out there, but one of the challenges is footing. There are some low lying swales that had standing water in them after the last rain, and have frozen over and then got a little snow on top of the ice. Beamer has learned to listen for the cracking of the ice, and he walks very carefully over them.

(I just love those little ears of his!) This weekend is team sorting , sure hope we get enough folks show up to work the cattle!

Sunday Stills

This week we are to choose our favourite two photos from last year. I'm assuming this includes photos that were not used on Sunday Stills posts.

My first choice is this one of my mother, it was the last photo I ever took of her, on Thanksgiving day.

One of the reasons I like it is that she looks so happy; and it goes well with this little poem she wrote just days before her death:

"I love having a happy heart.

When I have a miserable day, I can still pray for a happy heart.

When I am having a good day, I enjoy it with a happy heart.

Whether my day is good, or whether it is miserable, I can still have a happy heart."

I hope that I can live the rest of my life with a happy heart too, inspired by my mom, who lived a life of poverty and devotion to God, and overcame a lot of diversity.

For my second choice, I thought of the many photos I've taken of Beamer and the mares, but I decided to go with this one of hawthorn blossoms; it was taken on a day when my husband and I were relaxing beside the river in the spring, on his birthday.

It was a beautiful day here in Creston, and back in Alberta it was cold and miserable. So this photo, which is one of my better Macro shots, represents to me new beginnings symbolized by the blossoms, and the hawthorn tree is full of thorns, a reminder that life is not all sunshine and flowers.

Sunrise, and a new blog address (Not me!)

If you liked the view in my wordless Wednesday post, you'll like the view of the other side of the valley; this was taken at sunrise this morning.

My friend over at All the Pretty Horses had a lot of trouble with blogger and couldn't access her blog, so she deleted it and started another one, All These Pretty Horses . She owns the full sister to Janice's dog Sage, named Jess. These are from Reba's first litter and today is their 6th birthday. You gotta check out the cuteness of her donkey too!

Wordless Wednesday

Hoof update

The farrier came this morning. The girls got a lesson in standing tied at the hitching rail; note to self- the yearlings need lots of this! Look how big Velvet is next to Chickory- that's going to be one big girl! While they weren't terrible for the farrier, they did a lot of fidgeting, so I know what I need to work on for the next six weeks. I promised him they would stand better for him.....

Here are what Beamer's hind feet look like now.

Right hind

Right hind (I gotta remember to move that dang camera strap out of the way!)

Left hind

Left hind

The farrier showed me where to rasp for maintenance to keep the flare down, so I hope my boy will have improved feet this year.

New Squeak Toy

The dogs love their new toy that they got for Christmas; it is a ball that is shaped like a frog, with a nice loud squeak. Bounces great too!

A question for the farriers out there

Beamer has white feet on the back, and I'd like to know why he has these bands of pink on his hooves, he isn't sore and has no history of lameness; I thought they were some kind of bruising, but from what? He is in soft ground- other than the ice!

Right hind.

Right hind sole.

Left hind.

Left hind sole.

Yeah, I know, he's due for a trim. Any ideas?

We went for a ride out on the hayfields today, Not as warm as yesterday, but pretty nice none the less. When we came back. I spotted Kitty Bob on the barrel pile waiting for a mouse to offer itself up as dinner.

He's looking good for a feral cat- of course, I've been setting out cat food for him too, which has been disappearing!

Sunday Stills

Today's challenge is food. Now, when you have animals, that can cover a great deal of things! For example, Bubby, the old timer, let me know that Foose isn't the only one who can catch his food;

he came prancing across the yard with a mouse mustache of his own the other day, and when Foose came to investigate, he devoured this fat little field mouse in a hurry.

Bubby, get out of the hay! That's not your food!

The lovely Sparkle is enjoying the hay that we buy from a local supplier, as you can see by her fat little belly.

And yes, after the critters have all been fed, we have to eat too. Here are some of the home canning that we sell at the store where I work:

I might have to buy a jar of the asparagus pickles! Creston is renowned for it's asparagus, it's a huge business here.

And last, but not least, do you all remember my Christmas cake recipe that I posted? Well, here is what's left of it- the last half of the last cake!

Lonesome

Well, after spending New Years alone, and not having Janice come team sorting with me today, I got to the arena and it was really lonesome there. Not a soul showed up! (Just me 'n'B-boy), so I spent over an hour schooling. And- Woo-Hoo! I got my flying lead changes! We had a great ride, nice lope departures, lovely spins, and worked on some of the stop and turns on a direct rein that I need for learning cutting. Horse knows all this stuff, I just need to learn how to put it all together.

Beamer had to inspect the roping dummy. He tells me that he really does not want to be a rope horse, he prefers playing cowgames. Suits me! However, I think that when Velvet is old enough, I'll be swinging a rope from her; her mama was a natural with ropes.

Celebrating 2 years

This is my 500th post, and on Sunday, it'll be exactly 2 years since I started this blog. I'm rather amazed at where it has taken me; the people I've been in contact with are a great blessing- that's you, my blogger friends! And so I'm dedicating this post to you all.From the farms of the Eastern Seaboard, to Texas, California, Oregon, and many other states, foreign countries like Belize and the UK, and of course the many Canadians, we are all united in our love of the horse, and/or rural lifestyle.

I have shared your ups and downs, (Lisa and Mikey come to mind!) your vacations (Fern Valley!) your neighbors antics (Nuz Muz!), seen some amazing photography from a great many of you, followed the training of horses (Tracey, Nuz Muz, Cdn Cowgirl, Fantastyk Voyageur, and some others) shared in the antics of your children (Mercy, Sage and Steele, the twinlings, Cub and Wrecking Crew) and your furry friends (all of the blogs!).

It's been a privilege to be a part of Sunday Stills, -Thanks Ed and Linda for dreaming up that one- it really encouraged me to be more creative and active with my camera. Your cameras have shown me places of astounding beauty.

I've received some good and welcome advice, laughed and cried at some of your posts, and always felt that I belonged to a community- a right thinking community of folks, quick to praise and slow to criticize.

And so Here's to you, I raise my cuppa coffee on high to all of you and say Thanks! for being part of my life.

Today we are beginning the year with a good snowfall, hope it's enough to improve the footing in the fields so I can ride Beamer in the pastures, he's getting very bored. It also means that Janice from Own a Morgan blog won't be coming down to go cattle sorting with us tomorrow, I'm sure the roads will be a mess, and she is an hour and a half away.

I put up my Fern Valley calendar today- thanks, Sherry!

2010 but no blue moon!

The weather didn't cooperate for me to get a moon shot, but I did get some interesting stuff; it's snowing lightly, but the lights of town are visible and glowing softly.

I went out to the horse pens; Beamer was quite happy to have a midnight visitor,

even if I didn't whisper sweet nothings in his ear.

My new camera does a little better at night shots than the last one; this photo isn't edited:

So I played with Beamer for a bit, and saw some fireworks, too far away to be interesting, and it's off to sleep for me- hope you all had a great evening!

Once in a lifetime

From Space Weather- check this out!

BLUE MOON ECLIPSE: On Dec. 31st, the Blue Moon will dip into Earth's shadow for a partial lunar eclipse. The event is visible from Europe, Africa and Asia: map. At maximum eclipse, around 19:24 Universal Time, approximately 8% of the Moon will be darkly shadowed. Click on the image to launch an animated preview:

Blue Moons are rare (once every ~2.5 years). Blue Moons on New Year's Eve are rarer still (once every ~19 years). How rare is a lunar eclipse of a Blue Moon on New Year's Eve?

A search of NASA's Five Millennium Catalogue of Lunar Eclipsesprovides an approximate answer. In the next 1000 years, Blue Moons on New Year's Eve will be eclipsed only 11 times (once every ~91 years). So this is a rare event, indeed.

Wordless Wednesday

The one that got away

The mighty hunter Foose came a prancin' across the corral this morning, wearing a mouse mustache, and dropped it over by the chute to play with it.

In this photo, the mouse is trying to punch Foose out.

The mouse didn't reappear, and Foose moved on to check out the other spots on his "trapline".

Something old, something new

Well, my husband went shopping on boxing day.... not like last year, when we took mom to the mall in Calgary, which was a really stupid thing to do on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.... no, we found an ad hanging on a bulletin board at a local gas station, and we agreed that we didn't need this item, and left- but when it comes to antiques at a good price, well, my husband has a weak spot. So a little later out he goes and this is what he came back with, and it fit perfectly beside the tree.

It'a a lovely piece, and a perfect spot for the old clock and antique lamp, both of which didn't have a good place before. It also houses our CD collection. The top drawer is full length- 67 inches long- and will probably hold a few papers and small treasures.

I had fun taking photos with my new camera yesterday, and Beamer was happy to show off for me.

Such a ham!

And so photogenic, not like me.

We don't have much snow yet, but I'm sure that will change,there is snow and mild weather in the forecast for most of the week.

Another great thing was getting my passport in the mail on Christmas Eve- now that was a great gift!

I'm really looking forward to being able to go to the States and hope to visit some of my fellow bloggers next year- at least the ones in Washington and Idaho.

Sunday Stills- odds 'n' ends

Odds and ends was the challenge this week.

Odd- can anyone tell me if they've ever seen a bit like this, and how it was used? Here is another view.

Also in the odd file, can you tell me what this next item is used for? (Hint- if you're from Germany, you probably know!)

And in the "end" file; how's this for a fine end?

But this year brought it's sadness too, and I leave you with another end, my mother's funeral.

My daughter had just laid a carnation on the casket, and we sprinkled holy water too.

For Beamer fans

Beamer got a Christmas present......

He loves the mint flavor the best.

He got turn out time without his blanket today because it was warm enough......

Oh yeah!

Which of course meant he had to roll.......

And play........

And pose.......

Is this my good side?

Or this side?

B-boy, you don't have a bad side!

So, after an hour or so, it started cooling off, and it was time to blanket him again and bring him in.

Do I hafta?